Christianity in Maharashtra

Christianity is a minority religion in Maharashtra, a state of India. Approximately 79.8% of the population of Maharashtra are Hindus, with Christian adherents being 1.0% of the population. The Roman Catholic archdiocese whose seat is in Maharashtra is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bombay. There are two different Christian ethnic communities in Maharashtra: the Bombay East Indians, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and the Marathi Christians, who are predominantly Protestant with a small Roman Catholic population.

Catholic Christians in Maharashtra are mainly concentrated in the Konkan division, especially Vasai (Bassein), Mumbai (Bombay) & Raigad (Colaba) districts; they are known as Bombay East Indians; they were evangelised by Portuguese missionaries during the 15th–16th centuries. Protestants who reside throughout the Maharashtra, being significant in Ahmednagar, Solapur, Pune, Aurangabad, and Jalna, are called Marathi Christians; they were evangelized by British and American missionaries during British rule in the Bombay Presidency.

The Church of North India has dioceses in the state and is a large Protestant church with full communion with the Anglican Church. There are also some members of the Christian Revival Church in Maharashtra, who live mostly in the western coastal regions of the state.

Christians in Maharashtra
YearNumberPercentage
2001
1,058,313
1.09
2011
1,080,073
0.96
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.